


Midsummer's Night

by Lyra_Dhani



Series: Dream [1]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Brotherly Love, Gen, Mindsrew, Multiverse, Protective Siblings, Protectiveness, Psychological Horror, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23079463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Dhani/pseuds/Lyra_Dhani
Summary: It started when Raph received a warning from a fortune-teller and told everyone about it. Or perhaps it started way earlier than that, when one of Donnie’s old failed invention picking up weird signal.Leo would say that it started with him. Always him.Either way, it was when Mikey began acting weird that things stopped making sense.
Relationships: Donatello & April O'Neil (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT), Michelangelo & Renet Tilley
Series: Dream [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658728
Comments: 16
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

“Leo,” Donnie said and his tone was calculating, his eyes sharp, it was almost like he was trying to tell him something with that single word. “Where’s your Odachi?”

Leo felt like snapping at his brother, because clearly, there was no way he’d gone anywhere without his beloved Odachi, the glowing convenient mystic weapon that could create portal to help him scratch his back. The words were halfway out of his mouth but then he looked down and he couldn’t see Odachi anywhere. Instead, what he had in his hands were a pair of sharp katana.

“I-uh-“ He watched the katanas in his hands for a long time, staring at his reflection, at the facial markings in his face. When he looked up, Donnie was still standing there, waiting for an answer. Leo didn’t have one. Specifically, he didn’t the answer for the unspoken question hanging between them, it was obviously implied there and Leo didn’t even know whether he was still sane at the moment.

“Are you okay, Leo?” Donnie asked. “You know that you’re not dreaming, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

The question was asked with disinterested attitude but one deeper look at Donnie’s eyes, Leo could see the fear and worry, the kind of expression only seen by those closest to him.

“Sometimes,” Leo sighed. There really was no point in hiding from each other. “Sometimes, I knew I am Leonardo, Lou Jitsu’s son.”

“And other times?”

Other times, he felt like he was still dreaming. Leo didn’t say this out loud. He couldn’t. He was afraid it would come true, that when he opened eyes one day, Splinter was dead, and he was never Lou Jitsu and even this peaceful moment that he shared with Donnie was nothing but a mirror of reality.

But mostly, Leo just felt like walking in thin ice, waiting for something to break and when that time come, he might never be able to wake up.

The cracks were there, leaking into reality and Leo had to squint his eyes several times to discern it because there were too many moments when he ended up taking and saying the wrong things. Just like today for example. Or like yesterday, when he’d looked up at the ceiling and complained that the sewer was too bright.

Everything looked wrong somehow. Twisted and broken, just like his reflection.

Other times, Leo just didn’t understand who he was anymore.

Mostly, he was just lost.

.

.

It all started with a dream. It was harmless enough at first. He even bragged his brothers about it, about how in his dream, he had saved Earth by going turning back in time and went on space adventure just like Captain Ryan.

“Who’s Captain Ryan?” Raphael had asked.

Then Leo went on about _Space Heroes_ and _Space Heroes: The Next Generation_. His brothers had listened with sparkles in his eyes (Mikey), obvious skepticism (Donnie) and clear disinterest (Raph). They sat in circles listening to his stories and when Leo was finished, Mikey sighed dreamily and said that he wished he could have adventure in his dream too. Leo had pat his little brother’s head.

What he didn’t say was, it was more like a nightmare than anything. He didn’t tell them about Shredder a few inches away from killing him, about Splinter’s death and to see the Earth vanished right in front of his eyes. The pain felt real, the rollercoaster of emotion was definitely real and as Leo took a good look at the face of his brothers one by one, Big Raphael, short Donnie, too-young Mikey, he started to doubt.

But at the end of the day, it was precisely what it was. A dream. It didn’t matter because it wasn’t real. And sure, he might stayed by Splinter’s side a little longer and he’d hugged his brothers a little too tight, but it didn’t mean anything.

He went to his bedroom. He lied down, staring up at the ceiling, not feeling quite ready to sleep yet. He wished when he woke up the next day, he stopped feeling trapped, like he was drifting away alone and nobody was there to pull him back.

.

.

“Why do you never listen to me, Raph?” Leo stomped his feet angrily.

Raphael, that jerk, too short and too thin and all _wrong_ , simply rolled his eyes at him. “Leo, if we didn’t strike now-“

.

.

“We needed a plan-“

“Yeah? Because it looked like you were distracted a second there-“

.

.

“You’re not listening to me!”

“What? I am just-“

“I told you we have to-“

“LEO!”

Leo flinched. He looked up because suddenly Rapahel was taller than he was, too big and too tall and wrong _wron_ g ** _wrong_** -

He clutched his head and only realized that he was kneeling on the floor when a gentle hand lifted his chin, forcing him to look up. “Are you okay, Leo?”

Leo felt bad because his older brother’s eyes were full of worry and Rapahel had always been too good at listening to his brothers. Raphael always, always listened to his brothers. His big and gentle Raphael.

“Sorry,” he said quietly. “I just...”

He didn’t know what he needed. He looked away. Donnie was by his side, bandaging his left hand and Leo could see red seeping through. He could feel the pain.

He still felt trapped somehow.

Raphael’s face was grim. “I think you need to go home.”

Leo would have said _no_ but Mikey was staring at him with wide eyes, a look he’d never seen before. And yet even fully awake, Leo could see flashes of _other_ , there were sirens ringing in his ears and they were just ninja turtles hiding in the shadow. He almost thought it was foolish to ever think of himself as anything else.

.

.

“I keep having this weird dreams,” Leo said, staring up at the bright light above him. It felt more like being a part of an experiment than an examination but he just rolled with it. If Donnie somehow able to fix this, whatever this was, then Leo was even willing to let his little brother prod his brain.

 _Little brother_. He mused over the words. It proved how far gone he had to be that he could perfectly imagine himself as the little brother. As Donnie and Raphael’s little brother. Leo groaned. The whole dream-or-not-dream thing was giving him a migraine.

“It feels too real.”

“What is?” Donnie asked, his hands writing somethin in his note.

“The dream,” He put an arm over his eyes, covering half his face. Even at his weakest point, he didn’t like showing his little brother the fragile part of himself, even as he literally felt like slowly going insane at this point. “And this whole thing-“ He gestured with his other arm. “And you.”

Donnie paused. “Me?”

“Yeah, you and Raphael and Mikey.”

“Elaborate.” The writing resumed.

“You’re too tall. And so kind and gentle. And you always listen to me.”

Easily the kindest among his brother, so thoughtful, and also overly emotional and despite his high intelligence, he still fought with his wooden stick, the traditional bo-staff that Splinter picked up for him.

“I am happy that you think of me this way, Leo.”

“And Raph is too short and small and so temperamental.”

And they always argued too much, always fought for unnecessary things and Leo couldn’t imagine Raph screaming at Mrs. Cuddle or talking so softly to their little brothers.

Donnie snorted. “He’s always been that way.”

“Mikey is too childish, a little too tall.”

Honestly it was difficult being around Mikey nowadays because the reality was even harder to tell apart with him around. At a glance, this Mikey and the Mikey of his dream was more or less the same. Two part of the same coin.

“Leo,” Donnie said. “You know that you’re not dreaming right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Leo lied. He felt sick and there was a pounding headache in his head. Even now, he still felt like drifting away.

“Give me your left hand.”

Leo blinked, taken aback. He did as he told anyway. Donnie was grumbling, “You need to be more self-aware, Leo. When did you get such a wound this deep anyway?”

A wound. Leo stared as his little brother replaced the bandage in his left hand. He was pretty sure it wasn’t there before he woke up.

Leo stared, and stared, and he felt like screaming, there was a ringing in his ears-

.

.

The was a ringing in his ears. Leo put his hands over his ears, giving Donnie an unimpressed look, his heart was hammering hard againts his chest.

“Sorry about this,” his older brother said as he tinkered with whatever piece of junk he still kept. “I don’t know why it keeps doing that.”

“Shut it down, Donnie,” Leo said, restless. “Shut it down, please. You have to shut it down, _now_. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it-“

He was curled up on the floor, he realized belatedly and the ringing had stopped and Donnie was looking down at him with obvious concern. “I am sorry, Leo, you’re okay?”

He wasn’t okay, he was drifting away, he’d rather never wake up-

“Leo!” Mikey’s face was a few inches away, his hands wrapped him up in one big hug. “Leo, you’re going to be okay! I promise! I won’t let you go anywhere.”

.

.

“I won’t let you go anywhere,” Mikey said, hugging him tight and Leo felt like the world had turned upside down at the moment. He was floating, he was drifting away and nobody was there to pull him back.

“What happens to him, Donnie?” He heard Raph whispering.

Leo blinked through the haze, struggling to stay awake. To remember.

“I think he-“

.

.

“And then if this reality is nothing but a dream, I probably never want to wake up,” Mikey said. Leo looked down at his feet, he wasn’t floating but he still felt trapped. Then he looked up, the sewer was too bright. “Are you listening to me, Leo?”

“I am listening, Miguel,” Leo said fondly. “But if my little brother never wake up, I’ll be very upset.”

“Silly, of course you’ll be in the dream with me.”

“I will?” Leo really had no idea how Mikey’s mind work sometimes. “But you said-“

“You are trapped, yes,” Mikey cut in impatiently. “But think about it, Leo.”

Leo didn’t understand.

“You are dreaming but your mind is seeing the reality!”

.

.

Leo woke up, but he felt trapped. Somehow, he still felt like he was still dreaming.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a common knowledge that Donnie never throw his stuff away, just like how Rapahel was scared of Mrs. Cuddle and that Leo always cracked joke to lighten up the situation. Donnie kept all his creations close and safe because most of them might be old and failed but they all had their fair share of history. He still kept his first self-made training bot that Raph trashed in one punch and his first self-made electrical safety clothes that Mikey accidentaly put away in laundry. Not all of the memories were good, there was also that one skateboard he made that ended up with Leo almost cracked his skull open and it was entirely Donnie’s fault (not that he ever admitted it).

And then there was one small machine, made up of dream and imagination and Donnie had built it when he was five, Mikey was four at the time, and Splinter had been young. Mikey was excited and Leo was skeptical and Raph was having fun and back then, they had dreamed of being heroes and going into spaces.

“This machine will pick up Alien’s SOS signal!” Little Donnie had explained to his brothers.

The machine never did. Either because Alien never send them signals or it was a failure.

Donnie had forgotten about it. He’d probably forget it for the rest of his life. Except years later after it was made, the machine was ringing.

And Donnie, caught completely off-guard, dropped his mug of coffee.

The mug splattered on the floor and he was too fascinated at the moment to notice that his foot caught the pieces and bleeding badly. Raph was predictably freaked out when he saw the mess. He scolded like an overbearing mother and Donnie could certainly felt the stinging pain in his feet, but more than that he felt the terror, his heart hammering againts his chest.

.

.

It was weird to see Leo waking up so early in the morning. Donnie said as much, as blunt as possible to his little brother’s face.

Leo grinned, amused. “And what are you doing so early in the morning, brother? Oh, wait, let me guess, you wake up all night again, don’t you?”

He was on point. Donnie didn’t say anything. He didn’t feel like telling anyone that his ancient machine had suddenly come to life and now he was trying to figure out how and why.

The best case scenario was, it was a simple malfuction. Donnie took a big gulp of coffee. He didn’t want to think about the worst case scenario.

“I am going to April’s.”

“Oh, can you pick up pizza on the way back?”

“Go buy it yourself,” Donnie said, rolling his eyes.

“Hey, Donnie?”

He paused at the doorway. “Yeah?”

“Have you always been this short?”

Donnie was ready to snark right away but then he finally got a proper look at Leo’s face, taking in the tired lines and the dark circles under his eyes. Leo looked like he had his spirit sucked out of him.

“Go back to sleep, Leo,” he said instead. He thought about last night, Leo had excitedly told them about his dream and there was something else in his eyes, and it was funny how the night Leo had that adventurous dream was also the same night his machine came to life.

How funny and coincidental.

Donnie needed his migraine pill.

.

.

“That’s so cool!” April said, staring at the machine with glows in her eyes. She was such a joy to be around, so open and honest, with different sort of energy from his brothers’ and Donnie let himself relax a little. “But why didn’t you tell your brothers?”

The question came up at least and Donnie unconciously put up his guard.

“I am worried about something.”

April cocked her head. “What is it?”

“It’s just a simple worry,” Donnie smiled bitterly. “Call it an idea, if you will.”

“You worry too much,” April said, but her words were calculating and her gaze was heavy.

“And you know too much about me,” he said teasingly.

“It’s just hypothetical and what-if situation, right?” April asked. She was asking for reassurance. Donny couldn’t give it to her, that would have been cruel, so he stayed quite. Outside the sky was bright blue. He usually didn’t come out at day time. Leo usually didn’t wake up so early. And Mikey-

 _Shut up_ \- he told himself. _It’s just an idea_.

.

.

“Donnie!”

Donnie didn’t prepare himself for a full-blown hug sent in his way. He fall down with his youngest brother still completely attached to his body.

“Get off me, Mikey,” he grumbled with no bite in his tone.

“You’ve been in your room all day.”

Donnie knew that. He could imagine Raph’s worried face and it made him feel bad. It was silly. It was all because of a stupid idea. This one particularly felt like a parasite, once planted in his mind, it never left. It bugged him to no end and now it gave him a headache.

“Hey, why is this little one keep ringing, Donnie?” Mikey asked, pointing at the stupid machine.

Donnie gritted his teeth. “I don’t know. It’s annoying.”

“I met her again today.”

“Oh?” Donnie said, one part of his brain focusing on the blueprint of his little Alien-Sighting Machine while the other was trying hard to pay attention at Mikey’s words through the stupid headache.

“You met her too, at some other place, some other timeline.”

Mikey was smiling. Donnie stared at him, blueprint momentarily forgotten. This was wrong, his genius mind supplied. He couldn’t figure out what it was but he knew everything about this was wrong because it was Mikey’s eyes but those eyes, sharp and predatory, they didn’t belong to Mikey.

“Mikey, are you-“

“And she is beautiful, Donnie!” And just like that, the moment was broken. “She asked me to be careful and offered me some kind of japanese charm-“

Mikey’s words blended into the background and for just one minute, except for the ringing in his ears, it felt like world went completely still. Donnie sat down, he thought he might collapse if he kept standing. It was silly. Sweet Shell, _it was just an idea_.

.

.

Donnie’s worry was working in its way to a full-blown anxiety. He hadn’t have it since he was ten, when his brothers had reassured him that failure was okay and they would always be there to pick up the pieces. It had been a long time ago, you’d thought they’d forgotten it by now and yet Raphael noticed. He’d always noticed.

“Is there something on your mind, Donnie?” Raphael asked, worried. His gentle giant brother with his heart too big for the world to see. The conversations on the table stopped and now Mikey was looking at him as well. Leo was looking down at his meal, dazed and distracted and, if his theory was right, not at all actually here.

“Raph,” He said slowly. “Sometimes, I have an idea and it persists in my mind and never let go.”

“What idea?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s what I am trying to tell you. It’s just an idea.”

He glanced at Leo. And then at Mikey.

Donnie stared at Raph in the eyes. “I hope it’s just an idea.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mikey smiling. He never thought he’d ever felt so throughly creeped out by his own little brother.

“I met a fortune-teller some days ago,” Raph said and he had this half-crazed look in his face that would make anyone who didn’t know him back away.

Donnie honestly didn’t have the mood to listen to Raph’s story, what’s with the persistent headache and pain behind his eyes, but he could see that his oldest brother wanted to share it so badly. “And what did she say?”

“She said, _two worlds are connecting._ ”

Donnie choked on his coffee, spluttering. Raph immediately rushed to his side. “Donnie, you’re okay?”

He wasn’t okay. Everything wasn’t okay. It was supposed to be nothing more than an idea. Heh, talk about wake-up-call.

His machine was ringing. Leo looked half-dead even in a good day. Mikey was now talking philoshopy. Donnie didn’t want to deal with this, but there was no denying it anymore.

“And what did she say next, Raph?”

Raph looked uneasy. “She said, _one is drifting away and the other is dreaming_.”

Leo looked up. “What does it mean?”

Donnie hushed at him, then gestured at Raph to continue.

“ _A bridge is formed and the gap is filled but a young child might lost forever_.”

“That sounds very scary,” Mikey said, shivering. Donnie, too, felt a chill running down his spine.

“This is precisely why I hate fortune-teller,” Donnie spat out in disgust. “They talk in circles.”

.

.

Donnie didn’t have imaginative mind. Mikey took all the imaginations with him. His little brother believed in Santa and Leprechaun and everybody kept indulging him in his fantasy.

The one with intuitive mind would be Leo. Quick-witted and sharp and always came up with a plan that didn’t just consist of punching and smashing things.

Raph’s mind was simple and Donnie admired him sometimes. His oldest brother was made up of determination and heroic wills. He worried about every little things, like teamwork and feelings, but he never worried about stuff that didn’t concern him or his brothers. He never bothered to see the bigger picture because for Raph, things always worked in his favour.

Donnie on the other hand, was blessed and cursed with his genius mind, who always worked on _how_ and _why_ and _what-if_. His mind was always, always working.

And now his pain-in-the-shell intelligent brain came up with a dangerous hypothetical situation. Donnie wasn’t even good at this kind of things. To figure out something was more of Leo’s area of expertise. But, Splinter had always said that they had better instinct than normal people. Namely, the instinct to smell danger. Huh, the fact that this instinct didn’t work on Foot Clan and Baron Draxum and only proved itself to exist now of all time said a lot about this hypothetical situation.

 _Leo would know what do in this situation_ , he thought bitterly. But Leo wasn’t himself right now. So did Mikey. He stared at his little brother sitting across him. Raph was at the doorway with his hands crossed.

“Tell me more about the dimensional space and altenate timeline, Mikey.”

Mikey leaned in his chair, smiling. “They usually doesn’t cross one another. But it doesn’t exactly uncommon either.”

“And what will happen of two opposite worlds meet? Say, if something, like a portal, for example, create a magnetic barrier between the two?”

“That’s not how it works,” Mikey snickered. Donnie didn’t know whether he should be glad or creeped out that his little brother find it amusing. “Let’s just say, this world is point A. And there’s another world, we call it point B. There’s an intersection where point A and B can meet, of course, but sometimes, you go over the void and never come back.”

Donnie felt his heard went cold. _A young child might lost forever,_ Raph’s words echoed in his mind. Mikey was messing with him, he knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear.

“And then there are times when these two points are forced to interact and to sustain themselves, they make a medium between them.”

“Medium? But there would be gap and holes and-“ Donnie came to a realization. “Sweet shell.”

“What is it, Donnie?”

Raph didn’t understand. But Mikey had probably understand the whole time. His little brother nodded. “Exactly. The two worlds aren’t attracting each other. Something, or perhaps somebody, have to fill in the dimension between them.”

“And it’s you, isn’t it? You’re the medium.”

It wasn’t exacly a question and Mikey’s smile was an enough answer.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be careful out there and take care of yourself guys <3


	3. Chapter 3

Mikey described his first meeting with Renet in beautiful details. “It’s like the moon, Raph,” he said, babbling nonsense at this point. _The moon_ , Raph mused. Mikey had always been imaginative.

Renet was many thing, but the moon? Raph remembered him differently. A boy alone in the corner of city. Misterious and, with the shadows scretching under his feet, completely terrifying.

He had introduced himself as a fortune-teller. Raph had looked at him in the eyes, at the void of the boy and the boy of void, there was no mistaking the terror he felt at the time. He could have been wrong. Maybe the paranoia he felt was influenced by the mess that Donnie made earlier, a mess so big Raph could imagine the whole floor was painted by his blood.

When Mikey mentioned Renet’s name, Raph was starting to think that it was not at all coincidental.

It was only later when they compared notes that Raph realized that they were talking about two completely different person.

Renet, Mikey’s dream girl, and Renet the boy.

Mikey didn’t tell their brothers about Renet, so Raph decided to kept quiet as well. Besides, Donnie looked like he had enough in his mind. His brother barely ate, didn’t come out of his room, and he looked haunted even under the scorching sun. Leo, too, even moreso than Donnie.

Raph didn’t want to meet Renet again, but everything was falling apart. It was exactly like Renet said it would.

“He lies,” Mikey had hissed. Raph looked at him and had the strangest feeling that it was not Mikey he was looking at.

In the end, he had to reveal the prophecy. He regretted it when Donnie made the expression like he had his soul sucked out of him. He risked a glance at Mikey. His little brother was smiling. A bridge was formed and a gap was filled but Mikey was not _here_.

Raph came looking for Renet. Just like Renet said he would.

_A young child lost forever_. Raph had been repeating those words in his mind ever since the first time he heard it.

In the grand scheme of things, Raph was, by the definition of the world, incredibly young. He was the oldest among his brothers but he was practically a baby compared to what the world offered. And maybe, if he convinced himself hard enough, he could disappear.

Donnie would call him a fool. Donnie didn’t understand. Raph did.

Leo was drifting away and Mikey was dreaming right now. If either of them had to be the young child in the prophecy, it had to be Raph. He’d disappear so no one have to.

Renet laughed at his logic. “Silly, Raph, you don’t control the prophecy. The prophecy is controlling you!”

Raph was so much bigger and taller than Renet but the terror made its comeback. He’d never felt so tiny before. He’d felt small before, but not _tiny_. Helpless and _young_.

“Please,” he choked.

Lately, Raph felt desperation like he felt alive.

Renet looked at him with pity. “Convince him then.”

“Convince who?”

“Michelangelo,” Renet said, like it was obvious. “But you’re worry too much, Raphael.”

The shadow was dancing and when the beat stopped, Raph saw blocks falling from the sky.

.

.

Raph disappeared before he could say anything. Renet, too, disappeared.

The boy whispered good bye with a moonlight smile.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incredibly short, I know. I legit don't know what else to write for this chapter  
> Take care guys, be careful out there


	4. Chapter 4

Mikey looked up. There were huge boxes literally falling from the sky. It looked like the end of the world. Distantly, he wondered whether he should have done something about it. It seemed like the kind of trouble he and his brothers always ran into and had to fix all by themselves.

But he was precoupied by the sheer dream-like atmosphere, the absurdity, like he could watch all those blocks falling forever. It was one of those moment where every second of it felt like it could scretch into eternity.

The sky above was dark and glittering and if Mikey could, he’d stand there forever.

“Why don’t you?” the other him asked.

“You know why,” Mikey said. They were both Mikey, after all. And no Mikeys would ever left his brothers alone.

The other Mikey was a strange one, though. His shadow flickered and the surface shifted from one timeline to another, one universe to another. Watching the other him, he experienced the strangest sensation of listening to a broken record on repeat. Mikey didn’t like this feeling.

“I have to wake up,” he said. He didn’t know why he said that. He was already awake, he had to be.

The other Mikey cocked his head, considering. They exchanged glanced for a long time, two living being sharing the same exsistence. And finally the time unfreeze itself.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Mikey echoed.

He turned to see the blocks vanished from the sky, no longer falling, and it made Mikey questioned everything. If this was the way the universe worked then his family was entirely doomed.

In the horizon, one particular building standing tall. At the top of it, a lonely figure was crouching down at the edge of the roof, looking up with an exhausted expression. Mikey wanted to reach out for him, his heart aching. They both were corrupted already, disconnected from a universe and right now they might either falling down or disappear completely.

 _It will be okay,_ he wanted to shout. But everything blurred into background and smashed together and Mikey finally woke up-

.

.

-and he fell down.

There was a loud _thump_ when his body hit the floor. He hissed in pain.

“Mikey?” Leonardo asked, standing in the doorway. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah, just fall down from my bed,” he grumbled. “I have a weird dream.”

“Oh, me too,” Leo said with an easy smile. “A _real_ weird dream.”

Leo told his dream over dinner. Mikey listened through it all. It sounded more like a fairy tale than a simple dream. It was the way Leo expressed it that made his story sounded so detailed and alive and his eyes were bright as he recounted the alien-hunting disaster like he had been the one experiencing it himself.

“Why don’t you tell us your dream, Mikey?” Leo asked after he finished his incredible story.

Mikey paused. His brothers were all looking at him, expectant. He gulped down his food. “I already forgot.”

“Yeah, that happens a lot,” Donnie said. He narrowed his eyes at Leo, looking rather skeptical and strangely thoughtful. He probably didn’t believe in Leo’s story. Leo, for his part, either didn’t notice or just didn’t care.

“But you were there, Leo,” Mikey said, remembering something. “Only for a few seconds, but you were definitely there in my dream.”

“Oh, I was?” Leo said, amused.

Mikey frowned at him. He felt like he needed to remember. It was important. He knew it. If he could remember it, then maybe he could say what he hadn’t been able to say in that dream. It was silly, he knew. Mikey wasn’t a child anymore. After all, it was only a dream.

He bit his lip. A dream or not, it was still important.

Leo seemed to notice because his smile faded and for a second, Mikey could see flicker of real emotion passing. Brief as it was, Mikey now could clearly see that Leo was exhausted. He opened his mouth to say something-

_It will be okay._

_-_ but Donnie’s machine was ringing, ruining the silence. Donnie fumbled with it in panic.

Leo looked annoyed, like the machine had personally offended him or something. He turned to Mikey. “What is it?”

“What?” Mikey asked, startled.

“You were going to say something.”

“I-“ Mikey shooked his head. “No, it was just a dream in the end.”

Leo was quiet. Mikey studied his face, his expression, the exhaustion that he couldn’t cast away-

“What are you guys worrying about?” Raph asked. It was hypocritical of him to ask because he himself looked the most worried of them all.

Leo smiled. “Nothing, Raph. It’s already late, I am going to my room.”

“You’re not going with us for night patrolling?” Donnie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Leo’s shoulder slumped a little, the only gesture suggesting his real emotion. “I am tired.”

Mikey watched his retreating back. He noticed that Donnie’s eyes were trailing after him too.

He could feel Raph’s stare boring at the back of his head.

.

.

There were blocks falling from the sky. Mikey thought he'd gotten used to this. He didn't, even though nothing ever changed in this world-that-never-end.

The blocks were falling forever, Leo was standing at the top of the tallest building, and the sky was red, and everytime Mikey came back here, the scenes only became more vivid, more real, to the point he started to wonder if perhaps this was not, in fact, a dream-

Nothing ever changed. Except this time it did.

With a hood pulled over his head and flickering shadow tailing him, Raph's presence almost felt like it entirely belonged here, not unlike the other Mikey. It only made the difference all the more glaring. Raph was here.

"What did you do?"

Raph didn't answer. Mikey grabbed his shoulder, pulling his head down. His older brother looked away. "What did you do, Raph?"

The sky above was red and twisted and cracked open and bit by bits, Raph disappeared from his sight.

"No," Mikey croaked. This was just a dream. This had to be a dream.

.

.

Mikey woke up to the sound of Donnie shouting. Leo was sitting at the side of his bed, watching Donnie and Raph arguing something (in _his_ room, why?) with distant eyes.

"Raphael, what did you do?" Donnie asked, his tone was demanding, but the way he phrased it made it sounded more like desperate plea.

Raphael sighed. "Donnie, listen to me-"

"No," Donnie said, stubborn and scared and Mikey realized that he could feel his fear, felt it gripping his heart.

"Raph," Mikey called and his brothers snapped their heads at him.

"Mikey!" Leo leaped at him. "You're awake!"

He knew he was. He couldn't say the same for Leo, though, whose eyes were looking through him instead of looking at him.

Mikey didn't remember much about his dream but he knew Leo was there. A crapsack world and Leo was as washed-out as the rest of what was left in his dream.

Perhaps while Mikey was awake, Leo was left behind in the dream. Now that was a scary thought.

He stepped down from his back and walked slowly Raph, something like Deja Vu creeping up at his mind. When he pulled his shoulder down, he felt like he might remember something. “What did you do, Raph?” he croaked, his voice sounded broken to his own ears.

Raph couldn’t disappear, Mikey made sure of it _this time_ , gripping his broad shoulders tightly. Raph let out a slow breath. “It wasn’t me Mikey.”

Mikey exchanged a skeptical glance with Donnie, “Then who-?”

“It’s Renet.” Raph said. He sounded resigned and guilty and Mikey could detect a built-up anger waiting to explode. “Renet the boy.”

“Oh,” Mikey said. “I have to leave.”

He heard his brothers shouting behind him, Donnie throw out a lot of inapropriate words and Leo was calling his name, but he didn’t look back. He couldn’t afford to.

.

.

Mikey ran and tripped and ran again and as his mind raced, he was starting to think that looking at some monster in the eyes were easier than this. He’d know. He’d done it once in the dream. It was some frail memory of unconcious things that shouldn’t make it back to his brains after disappearing. He wished he remembered Leo more instead of this random bits. Leo in the rooftop and reaching his hand out to the sky and then-

And then _what?_ -

Mikey tripped again.

The city was dark and cold at night. Mikey almost thought he was dreaming again. He looked up and if he blinked, he could see his dreams seeping through, the blocks falling from the sky, but he blinked again and he was nowhere to be seen. In this reality, Mikey was-

 _what_?-

“Michelangelo,” Renet said, warm and lovely and one of the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid his eyes on. He looked up, if only to convince himself that he was awake. He honestly couldn’t tell anymore.

“Renet,” he said, pained. “You lie.”

“I would never,” Renet said and Mikey believed her. Or, at least, he wanted to. He didn’t have that luxury now because he remembered.

The sky. Leo. The monster.

Mikey took a deep breath. “You said to my brothers-“

“I am not-“

“You are. It doesn’t matter how many times you deny it, everything in this world stay true,” It was the other Mikey speaking. His shadow was flickering and twisting. Mikey decided that he was still dreaming. He could see it. There were too many half-werecked buildings and blocks falling from the sky. He didn’t resent it but right now, he wanted to be awake. He had to be.

“That boy is you. You are Renet and Renet is you.”

Renet’s smile vanished it seemed her entire existence was collapsing without it. “But, it’s not me. I am sorry, Mikey.”

Mikey laughed, hollow and humourless. “You’re not sorry, at all. I am going to disappear with you and _you know_ but you still let Renet do it.”

Renet stepped closer and yet it seemed their distance was further apart. “In the first place, we never exist in this time, in this dimension.”

“But I am real,” It sounded childish. Mikey whined and curled up to himself and the shadow began to show its true a form. A lost child. “I know I am. I don’t want Leo to disappear. I don’t want Raph and Donnie to-”

“He won’t. Your brothers are okay. You are okay.”

The world was spinning under his feet and suddenly, Mikey was very awake. “Renet,” he said, breathless all of sudden.

Renet smiled, bright and pure and beautiful. “My job here is done.”

She left without saying goodbye.

Mikey didn’t remember walking home but he knew he was awake the whole time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will hopefully be an epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> I recently found out that my childhood cartoon gets a reboot. I watched Rise as soon as I finished binge-watching entire seasons of TMNT 2012. Honestly, I'd like it better if Rise takes itself more seriously (I am more into dark and twisted type) but it was enjoyable enough I guess.


End file.
